Quick … raise your hand if you remember anything the speaker said at your high school graduation.

No hands in the air?

No surprise.

Most high school grads have other things on their minds.

Like getting to the beach.

Or, at the very least, the party.

Or – this will ring a bell with the 50th anniversary crowd – heading down to Gaffney for a secret South Carolina wedding. No blood test required!

“Strive for success.”

“Live up to your highest potential.”

However the words are put together, the message to young men and women reaching this milestone has been about the same since graduations were invented.

Times change, of course.

Job markets go from good to bad and back again.

Uncle Sam calls most every guy to wear the uniform, then takes volunteers only.

Technology makes the world a different place more swiftly each year.

A college education goes from rare to expected to debated over whether the value is worth the price.

Through all the changing times, The Star has offered its advice to Cleveland County’s graduating seniors, often printing the same un-memorable words used by graduation speakers.

Looking back over those words, a few points do seem worth repeating:

1. Do What You Love – Careers chosen for the money they pay or the security they offer can be mighty boring and unfulfilling over 40 or more years of one’s working life. Find your passion. Go for it. If you love what you do, you’ll find a way to make a living at it.

2. Do the Right Thing – You know when something is right and when it is wrong. That little voice called a conscience tells you. Listen to it and follow it. Take it a step further and find ways to help others and to help your community. Sometimes you’ll get noticed and get a lot of credit. Other times no one will know but you – and that’s the best feeling of all.

3. Never Say “There Ought to Be a Law” – Throughout life, remember the freedom you craved as a teen. Never forget how it feels to make your own decisions, guided by your own principals and those learned from your parents and others you respect. That way, you won’t be tempted to force your beliefs on others, and you will understand when government is trying to do the same through legislation. Stand up against anything that takes away an individual’s freedom whether it is yours or another’s.

4. Give it All You’ve Got – Hard work really does pay off. It might be in a better grade at college. It might be in a better job at work. Whatever it is, you will get out of it what you put into it.